Grace Over Guilt

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I want to propose this thought: when it comes to Christians, which is more offensive to God – sexual impurity or the guilt that accompanies/follows? Of course, this is a weighted question. An offense in God’s eyes is an offense, period. But Hebrews tells us that we have a high priest who was tempted but never sinned, and because of this, we can approach God’s throne with confidence even though we have sinned.

After we sin, it’s instinctual to pull away from God. This is particularly true for sexual sin, because sexuality is so intimate and cuts to the core of our beings. Praying to God after sinning feels offensive and selfish. Our guilt clouds our faith that God’s grace is overflowing. This guilt that makes us pull away from God in shame (guilt which we might perceive as self-imposed retribution) is Satan continuing his work. His goal is to pull us away from God, and the most effective way for him to do that is by installing the notion in our minds that it’s offensive to God for us to approach Him after we’ve sinned. We must realize that this is contradictory to the Gospel. When we buy into the idea that we mustn’t give God praise or rejoice in Christ’s sacrifice after we have sinned, we are making the purpose of Jesus’ crucifixion void in our hearts.

We should take every precaution in avoiding sexual impurity. But if and when we fall short of perfection in this area of our lives, we cannot let the guilt of committing such an intimate sin consume us. Allow your sexual sin to show you how desperately you need a Father who is full of grace. When we praise God after we sin, we aren’t glorifying sin. We are glorifying God and issuing a testament to His grace. Sin is serious stuff and should be avoided at all cost, but its power pales in comparison to Christ’s bloodshed. So rejoice.

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